Crete

Crete Periphery
Περιφέρεια Κρήτης
Location of Crete Periphery in Greece
 
Country: Flag of Greece.svg Greece
Capital: Heraklion
Prefectures: Chania
Heraklion
Lasithi
Rethymno
Population: 623,666

(2005)
Area: 8,336 km² (3,219 sq.mi.)
Density: 75 /km² (194 /sq.mi.)
Website: http://www.crete-region.gr

Crete (Greek: Κρήτη, transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km² (3,219 square miles).

Crete was the center of the Minoan civilization (ca. 2600–1400 BC), the oldest Greek and European civilization.

Today Crete is one of the thirteen peripheries of Greece and a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece. While it keeps its own local cultural traits (e.g. its own music and dialect), Cretans openly identify themselves as Greeks.

For centuries the island was known by its Italian name Candia, from the medieval name of its capital Heraklion, Chandax (Greek: Χάνδαξ or Χάνδακας, "moat", Turkish: Kandiye). In Classical Latin it was called Creta and in Turkish Girit.

Crete is the location of significant ancient history, which provides popular modern day tourist destinations. They include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian old city and port of Chania, the Venetian castle at Rethymno, and the Samaria Gorge.

Contents

History

Main article: History of Crete
Typical summer landscape of Crete

The first human settlements on the island, dating to the aceramic Neolithic, used cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs, as well as domesticated cereals and legumes; ancient Knossos was the site of one of these major Neolithic (then later Minoan) sites.[1] Crete was the center of Europe's most ancient civilization; the Minoan. Early Cretan history is replete with legends such as those of King Minos, Theseus, Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus passed on orally via poets such as Homer. Crete was involved in the Mithridatic Wars, initially repelling an attack by Roman general Marcus Antonius Creticus in 71 BC. Nevertheless, a ferocious three-year campaign soon followed under Quintus Caecilius Metellus, equipped with three legions, and Crete was finally conquered by Rome in 69 BC, earning for Metellus the title "Creticus". Gortyn was made capital of the island, and Crete became a Roman province, along with Cyrenaica.

Crete was part of the Byzantine empire, but then was captured by Iberian Muslims led by Abo Hafs Omer Al-Baloty [2] who established an emirate on the island. In 960 Nicephorus Phocas reconquered the island and held it under Byzantine control until 1204, when it fell into the hands of the Venetians at the time of the Fourth Crusade. During Venice's rule, which was more than four centuries long, a Renaissance swept through the island as is evident from the plethora of artistic works dating to that period. The most notable fruits of the Cretan renaissance were El Greco and Vitsentzos Kornaros. In 1669, after a 21-year siege, Candia fell to the Ottoman empire.

Under the rule of Christian Venetians, the city of Candia was reputed to be the best fortified city of the eastern Mediterranean. [3] Jewish, Armenians were the largest minority groups living in Crete. The Jews were attracted during the period of the mass expulsion from Spain in 1492.[4] In 1627, there were 800 Jews in the city of Candia, about seven percent of the city's population.[5] In 1574-77, Crete was under the rule of Giacomo Foscarini as Proveditor General, Sindace and Inquistor. According to Starr (1942), the rule of Giacomo Foscarini was the dark age for Jews and Greeks. Under his rule, non-catholics had to pay high taxes with no allowances. This practice ended when the Ottomans conquered Crete.

During the Ottoman rule, many churches and monasteries were converted to mosques. However, freedoms and rights were still provided. Church attendance was permitted. Still, many Christians converted to Islam through intermarriage with Muslims. The Islamic law permitted the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian women, but not the reverse. Through these processes, the population of Christians declined. The city was surrounded by high walls and bastions and extended westward and southward by the 17th century. The most opulent area of the city was the Northeastern quadrant where all the elite were gathered together. The city had received another name under the rule of the Ottomans, the deserted city.[6] The urban policy that the Ottoman applied to Candia was a two-pronged approach.[7] The first was the religious endowments. It made the Ottoman elite contribute to building and rehabilitating the ruined city. The other method was to boost the population and the urban revenue by selling off urban properties. According to Molly Greene (2001) there were numerous records of real-estate transactions during the Ottoman rule. In the deserted city, minorities received equal rights in purchasing property. Christians and Jews were also able to buy and sell in the real-estate market.

Muslim presence in the island started with the Arab occupation but was cemented by the Ottoman conquest. Most Cretan Muslims were local Greek converts who spoke Cretan Greek, yet at the dawn of Greek nationalism, the Christian population labeled them "Turks".[8] Contemporary estimates vary, but on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, as much as 45% of the population of the island may have been Muslim.[9] Many among them were crypto-Christians who converted back to Christianity in subsequent years, while many others fled Crete because of the unrest, settling in Turkey, Rhodes, Syria and elsewhere. By 1900, 11% of the population was Muslim. Those remaining were forced to leave in 1924 in the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Uprisings by Christians were met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities who several times executed bishops, regarded as ringleaders. Crete was left out of the modern Greek state by the London Protocol of 1830, and soon it was yielded to Egypt by the Ottoman sultan. Egyptian rule was short-lived and sovereignty was returned to the Ottoman Empire by the Convention of London on July 3 1840.

Greece and Crete

Between 1833 and 1897, several more Christian uprisings took place, and in 1898, Crete, a complex autonomous Cretan State under Ottoman suzerainty, was nevertheless garrisoned by an international military force, and with a High Commissioner (Armostis) chosen by Greece. During these years Cretan volunteers played an important role in the Greek struggle for Macedonia and in the Balkan wars. Finally, in the aftermath of the Balkan wars Crete joined Greece on 1 December 1913.

During World War II, the island was the scene of the famous Battle of Crete where in May 1941, German paratroopers, meeting fierce resistance by the locals and the British Commonwealth force, commanded by General Sir Bernard Freyberg, sustained almost 7,000 casualties. As a result, Adolf Hitler forbid further large scale airborne operations there during the war.

Geography

Crete
Κρήτη
Cretan ports of entry for yachts
Cretan ports of entry for yachts
Geography
GreeceCrete.png
Total Isles: 25
Area:[10] 8,336 km² (3,219 sq.mi.)
Highest Mountain: Mt. Psiloreitis (2,456 m (8,058 ft))
Government
Flag of Greece Greece
Periphery: Crete
Prefecture: Chania
Heraklion
Lasithi
Rethymno
Capital: Heraklion
Statistics
Population: 623,666 (as of 2005)
Density: 75 /km² (194 /sq.mi.)
Postal Code: 72x xx, 70x xx, 71x xx, 73x xx, 740 55, 74x xx
Area Code: 284 x0, 2810, 289x0, 282x0, 28310, 283x0
License Code: AN, HK, HP, XN, PE
Website
www.crete-region.gr

Crete, with a population of 650,000 in year 2005, is one of the 13 regions into which Greece is divided. It forms the largest island in Greece and the second largest (after Cyprus) in the East Mediterranean. The island has an elongated shape : it spans 260 km from east to west and 60 km at its widest, although the island is narrower at certain points, such as in the region close to Ierapetra , where it reaches a width of only 12 km. Crete covers an area of 8,336 km², with a coastline of 1046 km ; to the north it broaches the Sea of Crete (Greek: Κρητικό Πέλαγος); to the south the Libyan Sea (Greek: Λιβυκό Πέλαγος); in the west the Myrtoan Sea, and toward the east the Karpathion Sea. It lies approximately 160 km south of the Greek mainland.

Crete is extremely mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from West to East, formed by three different groups of mountains. These are:

These mountains gifted Crete with fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha; caves, such as Diktaion and Idaion; and gorges, such as the famous Gorge of Samaria. The protected area of the Samaria Gorge is the home of kri-kri, while Cretan mountains and gorges are refuges for the endangered vulture Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus).

There are a number of rivers on Crete, including the Ieropotamos River on the southern part of the island.

Climate

Crete straddles two climatic zones, the Mediterranean and the North African, mainly falling within the former. As such, the climate in Crete is primarily temperate. The atmosphere can be quite humid, depending on the proximity to the sea, while winter is fairly mild. Snowfall is common on the mountains between November and May, but rare at the low lying areas, especially near the coast when it only stays on the ground for a few minutes or hours. However, a truly exceptional cold snap swept the island in February 2004, during which period the whole island was blanketed with snow. During the Cretan summer, average temperatures reach the high 20s-low 30s Celsius (mid 80s to mid 90s Fahrenheit), with maxima touching the upper 30s to mid 40s (above 110 Fahrenheit).

The south coast, including the Messara plain and Asterousia mountains, falls in the North African climatic zone, and thus enjoys significantly more sunny days and high temperatures throughout the year. In southern Crete date palms bear fruit and swallows remain year around, not migrating to Africa.

Nuvola apps kweather.svg Weather averages for Heraklion Weather-rain-thunderstorm.svg
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 15
(59)		 16
(60)		 17
(62)		 20
(68)		 23
(74)		 27
(81)		 29
(84)		 28
(83)		 27
(80)		 23
(74)		 20
(68)		 17
(63)		 21
(70)
Average low °C (°F) 9
(48)		 9
(48)		 10
(50)		 12
(54)		 15
(59)		 19
(66)		 22
(71)		 22
(71)		 19
(67)		 17
(62)		 13
(56)		 11
(52)		 15
(59)
Precipitation mm (inches) 94
(3.7)		 66
(2.6)		 48.3
(1.9)		 27.9
(1.1)		 15.2
(0.6)		 2.5
(0.1)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 17.8
(0.7)		 58.4
(2.3)		 66
(2.6)		 88.9
(3.5)		 497.8
(19.6)
Source: [11] {{{accessdate}}}

Cretan culture

For centuries Crete has held intact its own distinctive rich and proud culture. Cretan Greek has been maintained as the spoken language, and Cretan wine is a traditional drink. The island is known for its music, and it has many indigenous dances, the most noted of which is probably the Pentozali.

Economy

The economy of Crete, which was mainly based on farming, began to change visibly during the 1970s. While an emphasis remains on farming and stock breeding, due to the climate and terrain of the island, there has been a drop in manufacturing and an observable expansion in its service industries (mainly tourism-related). All three sectors of the Cretan economy (agriculture, processing-packaging, services), are directly connected and interdependent. The island has a per capita income close to 100% of the Greek average, while unemployment is at approximately 4%, half of that of the country overall. As in other regions of Greece, olive growing is also a significant industry; a small amount of citrons are still cultivated on the island.

The island has three significant airports, Nikos Kazantzakis at Heraklion, the Daskalogiannis airport at Chania and a smaller in Sitia. The first two serve international routes, as the main gateways to the island for travellers.

Tourism

Spinalonga Island Leper Colony

Crete is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece. Fifteen percent of all arrivals in Greece come through the city of Heraklion (port and airport), while charter journeys to Heraklion last year made up 20% of all charter flights in Greece. Overall, more than two million tourists visited Crete last year, and this increase in tourism is reflected on the number of hotel beds, rising by 53% in the period between 1986 to 1991, when the rest of Greece saw increases of only 25%. Today, the island's tourism infrastructure caters to all tastes, including a very wide range of accommodation; the island's facilities take in large luxury hotels with their complete facilities swimming pools, sports and recreation, smaller family-owned apartments, camping facilities and others. Visitors reach the island via two international airports in Heraklion and Chania, or by boat to the main ports of Heraklion, Chania, Rethimno, and Agios Nikolaos.

Plans for a container port

Topographic map of Crete

Newspapers have reported that the Ministry of Mercantile Marine is ready to support the agreement between Greece, South Korea, Dubai Ports World and China for the construction of a large international container port and free trade zone in southern Crete near Tympaki; the plan is to expropriate 850 ha of land. The port would handle 2 million containers per year, while as of 2007, there has been no official announcement of a project not universally welcomed due to its environmental, economic and cultural impact.[12]

Notable Cretans

Satellite photo of Crete (NASA)
Giorgio Sideri's map of Crete (1562).

Cities

Crete's principal cities are:

Political organization

The island of Crete is a periphery of Greece, consisting of four prefectures (Greek: νομοί):

For amateur radio purposes it is considered to be a separate "entity," ITU prefix SV9.

Expatriate EU communities

Crete's mild climate is attracting growing interest from Northern Europeans to have a holiday home or residence on the island. EU citizens have the right to freely buy property and reside with little formality.[13] A growing number of real estate companies cater to mainly British expatriates, followed by German, Dutch, Scandinavian and other European nationalities wishing to own a home in Crete.

The British expatriates are concentrated in the western prefectures of Chania and Rethymno and to a lesser extent in Heraklion and Lasithi. Some 40% of Britons in late 2006 said they were planning to live outside the United Kingdom or retire abroad due to socio-economic changes in the country. One in ten Britons do so already.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ C. Michael Hogan, Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian (2007)
  2. ↑ Reinhart Dozy, Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne: jusqu'à la conquéte de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides (French) pg. 711-1110, Leiden, 1861 & 1881, 2nd edition
  3. ↑ Greene, M. (2001). Ruling an island without a navy. A comparative view of Venetian and Ottoman Crete. Oriente moderno, 20(81), 193-207
  4. ↑ Schoenfeld, A.J. (2007). Immigration and Assimilation in the Jewish Community of Late Venetian Crete (15th–17th Centuries). Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 25(1), 1-15
  5. ↑ Starr,J. (1942). Jewish Life in Crete Under The Rule Of Venice.Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 12, pp. 59-114.
  6. ↑ Greene, M. (2001). Ruling an island without a navy. A comparative view of Venetian and Ottoman Crete. Oriente moderno, 20(81), 193-207
  7. ↑ Greene, M. (2001). Ruling an island without a navy. A comparative view of Venetian and Ottoman Crete. Oriente moderno, 20(81), 193-207
  8. ↑ Demetres Tziovas, Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters Since the Enlightenment; William Yale, The Near East: A modern history Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1958)
  9. ↑ William Yale, The Near East: A modern history by (Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1958)
  10. ↑ "Basic Characteristics". Ministry of the Interior. www.ypes.gr. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
  11. ↑ weatherbase.com
  12. ↑ "No Container Transshipment Hub in Timbaki", retrieved 25 May 2007.
  13. ↑ On the Rights of Citizens of the Union, EC Directive 2004/58 EC (2004) [1]
  14. ↑ Beattie, Jason (2006-12-11). "A Tenth of Britons Live Abroad". Evening Standard. www.thisismoney.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.

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